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Tag: Nuestra Señora de Gracia Church

It was a hot Thursday afternoon when our group decided to make a historical heritage and visita iglesia ( church visit) in several historical churches that are located in Makati city . There was a traffic built-up along EDSA ( Cubao ) EDSA ( Ortigas ) and EDSA ( Shaw ) areas and it took almost 2 hours before i reached the Guadalupe church compound . It can be worst during ordinary days .

Guadalupe church

Guadalupe Church is also known as Nuestra Señora de Gracia Church. This is known as one of the oldest churches in Makati area and made of volcanic tuff known as adobe. This church is located near MRT Guadalupe station and atop a small hill.

monastery

The church is a mixture of different architecture styles. An example of this is the façade which shows Neo-Romanesque with Gothic style.The massive buttresses create a vertical movement, stopped only by the roundness of windows, statues, niches and the semi-circular arch of the main entrance. The monastery attached to the old church is made of modern cement .

graffiti marks

There were ugly etch marks ( graffiti marks ) left maybe by the American or some say British soldiers on the adobe walls of the church. They can be visibly seen with the naked eyes .

main altar

Church images of saints ( santos) were covered with violet / purple cloth veiled which symbolizes mourning and death . The duration of such veiling varies from place to place. The custom in many places is to veil from before first vespers or the vigil Mass of the Fifth Sunday of Lent while others limit this veiling from after the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday.

This is one of the favorite pre-wedding nuptial photography sites and wedding place in Makati . The rates is cheaper compared to some historical churches in Manila or Sactuario de San Antonio. Booking the place can sometimes pose a problem because of its popularity .

The church and house were to be built in the highest hill in the area called Buenavista and were to be placed under the patronage of Saint Peter , the namesake of the donor. The facade is baroque .

historical marker

Construction of the first church commenced in 1620 under the direction of Fray Pedro delos Montes S.J. As the Jesuits began to earn at least 30,000 pesos annually from turning clay into fine earthenware, their vision of building an imposing structure began to be realized. The church known as San Pedro y Paul Viejo was made from hewn stone, pebbles and gravel mixed with mortar. Its facade is dominated with a three tiered papal tiara with the cross keys of Saint Peter.

interior

The church was destroyed during the Brtish occupation in 1762. The church was reconstructed much later in 1849 using volcanic tuff from nearby Guadalupe in Makati and Meycauayan in Bulacan province. Other materials include used include yakal and molave as wood materials, and capiz shells for windows. This church is just located a few blocks away from the Guadalupe Church and is another favorite for weddings .

The adjacent property fronting the church is a parking space used to be part of church cemetery .

Address : P Burgos, Makati, Metro Manila

children

We were also greeted by the children and residents of the area . The barangay is alive with the reading of pasyon .

I think each barangay would host a pabasa station where a makeshift tent , or stage area . Some families would even spend money to host a pabasa.

Calvary 1

When we moved around the area , it seems that almost every street corner would host a pabasa . That also explain ‘why’ portion of streets leading to Makati is close during Holy Week.

Parish of Our Lady of Abandoned

We also walked along J. P. Rizal street at the linear park along Pasig River , It used to be a small parish and the devotion started to increase into neighboring barangays and even people from Makati and Manila would also come. We also saw a larger church that is being constructed at Barangay Hulo , Mandaluyong City. This is under the auspices of Mission Society of the Philippines .

Address: 811 Coronado St., Hulo, Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila

Contact : 532-7756

National Shrine for Our Lady of Guadalupe

This modern church is located near the office of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority ( MMDA) at 1923 Orense , Guadalupe Nuevo , Makati . This is a more modern church with larger sitting capacity . We headed towards the upper floor to get photo of the church facade. Since it is Lenten season , All the church images were veiled with purple / violet cloth . This is not my first time to visit this church , I have visited this one several times , since i took several short courses at the Technology Resource Center (TRC ) office a few blocks away and We would eat at the small eateries ( carinderias) located near the shrine.

church facade

In the Year 2002, it was declared an Archdiocesan Shrine. In January 23, 2010, declared a National Shrine. There are also station of the cross on the upper floor .

shrine marker

portion of the shrine

One can easily overlook this shrine coming from Orense street . The shrine can easily be mistaken for a large parking space or a building if not for its stained glass windows and cross . The long electric lines and electric poles are also hindrance to photography . The shrine is also popular among its parishioners because of its sitting capacity and wide open space inside the shrine.

Address :1923 Orense street , Guadalupe Nuevo , Makati

Tel No. 882-8095

Santuario de San Antonio

This church is one of the classiest church within Makati area. It is fully air-conditioned with its modern Spanish mission -style architectural features . There are paintings of national artist Fernando Amorsolo . This church is located within Forbes Park community and Bonifacio Global City ( BGC) area .

marker

The church had a wide garden with life-sized station of the cross depicted

Address: 3117 McKinley Rd, Manila, 1220 Metro Manila

Phone:(02) 843 8830

Greenbelt chapel

We just tried to walked the stretch of EDSA on our way to Ayala near the chapel at the Greenbelt . It was past 6:00pm when we reached the chapel . I have seen a lot of improvements within the chapel and its garden, there are more flowering plants like orchids and ferns on kakawate tree stumps .

different types of blooming vandas , mokaras and kagawaras

There were at least 3 dozens kakawate tree stumps planted with the vandaceous alliance orchids. Their blooms are long lasting , Flowers can last for several weeks or even months. I think they started to introduce flowering orchids within the greenbelt area several years ago . This makes the area a little more lively , an ideal spot for taking photos and to commute with nature.

acacia tree with native orchids

We also saw sanggumays ( Dendrobium anosmum, Vanda lamellata , Dendrobium crumenatum ( Dove orchid ) , Aerides quinquivulnera naturalized on the old acacia trees. I must say that it is a wise move on the part of the Ayala park management .

greenbelt chapel

History

Inspired by St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, the late Fanny del Rosario-Diploma and her husband, Atty. Nordy P. Diploma, presented plan to build a chapel to Rev. Fr. Edgar Saginsin, who facilitated a meeting and consultation with the late Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila.

The parish and church is celebrating their 40th anniversary and the church is full of people ,It is also fully air-conditioned. It was also a big relief among the visitors that there are water stations within the church grounds.